13 Mink Street

Peld Simons looked at Karon in a somewhat helpless manner. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small stack of credits.

However, instead of tossing them over, he bent down and placed them on the ground, even offering an explanation, “These aren’t Reincarnation credits, but Order credits. Consider this my apology for the earlier joke.”

The woman nestled herself against the man’s chest and smiled. “We simply haven’t seen each other in too long and lost control of ourselves emotionally. Please forgive us.”

Karon pointed at the woman again. “Return her body to her.”

“Oh?” Peld frowned. “I think I’ve already given you plenty of face, friend. Don’t push things too far.”

Karon replied, “I think my request is perfectly reasonable.”

“Friend, you have no right to interfere with my private life.”

“I do, because you have already violated Article Five of Chapter Two of the Code of Order by using the power of faith against an ordinary person.”

Peld spread open his hands and looked at Karon. “Are you serious?”

“What you need to do now is remedy your actions and return her body to her. Depending on the sincerity of your repentance, your sentence may be reduced. Her father is still waiting for her.”

“I’m very sorry, but her soul has already become nourishment for my beloved. This kind of possession is irreversible. She’s already gone. Who told her to resemble my dear a little too much?”

So the waitress girl who had served Karon food earlier was already gone. Her father had not even managed to save up enough gold coins to buy her a return ticket back to the island.

“According to the Code of Order, I am placing you under arrest and will also file for accountability with the Church of Reincarnation.”

Peld spoke, “My family name is Simons.”

Within church circles, nobody would fail to understand what the surname Simons meant within the Church of Reincarnation. The current Gatekeeper of the Church of Reincarnation, Romir, also carried the surname Simons.

“Very well then, Criminal Simons.”

Peld’s eyes widened furiously. “Do you know who my grandfather is?”

“Yes, the grandfather of Criminal Simons.”

“Heh. Heheheh. Is there something wrong with your brain? I’ve already given you face, and I have already given the Church of Order face. Now I’m taking my beloved away.

“Oh right, I’ll compensate her father.” After speaking, Peld grabbed the woman’s hand and turned to leave the forest. In truth, he had indeed given more than enough face already. Compared to his usual temperament, he was showing enormous restraint.

However, the moment he directly uttered the phrase “Darkmoon Island peasant” in front of Ophelia, Karon no longer possessed any other choice.

“Hide yourself properly,” Karon said to Ophelia. “Leave this to me.”

He then transformed into black mist and swept around from the side, reappearing directly before the couple to block their path. “Are you refusing to accept your arrest?”

Peld inhaled deeply and released the woman’s hand. She very deliberately retreated while addressing Karon, “We truly love each other. Peld loves only me. Please understand.”

Karon ignored her entirely.

“I’m asking you one last time; Do you really insist on doing this?” Peld asked. “Do you understand that even if you drag me before your Archbishop or even your Cardinal, I still won’t receive any punishment? The war is already over. Negotiations have already concluded!”

“Now, I issue my final warning to you. As a Divine Servant of the Pavaro Inquisition and an attached member of the Whip of Order squad, I order you to kneel and accept arrest.”

“Hehehe...” Peld laughed, then his palm curled inward. The ring on his finger flashed, and a miniature teleportation array appeared.

Immediately afterward, a silver spear materialized in his hand. At the same time, he vanished, only to instantly reappear directly in front of Karon, the spear thrusting forward.

From the very beginning, he intended to simply kill Karon. Peld had only two options, either use his connections to suppress the matter later on, or simply silence Karon permanently. He did not want this issue escalating to the point where his grandaunt learned of it, as that would ruin the image of repentance he had worked so hard to build up for her recently.

Most importantly, he genuinely believed that this was not even a serious matter. I find my women, you find yours! Everyone’s finding women, yet you’re taking things this seriously with me? Damn it!

Karon rapidly retreated. A layer of Sea God Armor covered his body. After becoming capable of borrowing both elemental attributes of Progenitor Allen, he had also become capable of altering the visual manifestation of some of his Arts. The Sea God Armor could appear as flowing black liquid, while the Darkmoon Blade could be covered in black flames.

That was also why, during his earlier sparring sessions against Gray and the other members of the squad, nobody had noticed anything unusual.

Of course, truly experienced and knowledgeable individuals might still notice clues.

Sparks continuously erupted where the tip of the silver spear struck Karon’s chest, but every strike was blocked by the Sea God Armor.

Karon raised both hands. From below, three Spears of Punishment instantly condensed and then shot upward.

Peld merely swept his spear downward, directly carving out a barrier.

The Spears of Punishment exploded, yet Peld borrowed the resulting momentum to close the distance even further. The spear tip twisted upward in a spinning arc, thrusting straight for Karon’s throat.

This young man possessed abundant combat experience, as well as formidable personal strength.

A square frame appeared before Karon. It rapidly expanded as a Cage of Order formed, unfolding into a defensive barrier. Yet Peld merely flicked his spear diagonally and actually deflected the still-forming Art aside.

But before he could thrust again, another Order Cage appeared directly before him. Left with no choice, he forcefully thrust through it.

Bang! The cage shattered, but the resulting shockwave carried by the spear tip continued roaring toward Karon.

However, seven additional layers of Wall Fortification had already appeared in his way. Why is this guy able to form his Arts so quickly?

Using the barriers to buy time, Karon retreated. By the time Peld withdrew his spear and completed the first wave of attacks, Karon had already returned to where he had originally stood.

Ophelia was standing behind a large tree.

“I’ll handle this,” she stated.

“He’s a Simons.” Karon was warning her. This opponent belonged to the royal bloodline of the Church of Reincarnation.

It was a deeply tragic reality. A member of the Church of Reincarnation had just cruelly erased the soul of a citizen of Darkmoon Island, yet even the princess of the Darkmoon bloodline, Ophelia herself, could not intervene.

The world had always been this realistic and cruel.

A scroll was tossed to Karon’s feet. He picked it up and flicked it downward. Spirituality poured into it as the ritual array within the scroll activated. A miniature teleportation array appeared, and the hilt of a sword slowly emerged.

Grabbing the sword hilt, Karon pulled out Ophelia’s massive purple greatsword.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Peld was also comforting his lover. “Hide farther away. As soon as I’m done dealing with him, I’ll take you out to eat. You can start thinking now about what you want later. Heh... or maybe I’ll take you to your body-father’s restaurant and have her father cook for us. I’m sure he’ll put a great deal of care into preparing the meal.”

The two men each stood beside a woman. At the same time, neither took the other to be a serious opponent. After the first exchange, they both casually spoke a few words to the woman beside them. In a true fight, this was an extremely foolish thing to do.

Yet it truly happened because both believed they were guaranteed to win.

Karon spoke, “If later you see me using something that shouldn’t appear...”

Ophelia replied, “I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.”

“No. What I mean is, you should attack together with me to make sure that he’s put to rest here permanently.”

Ophelia froze briefly before immediately nodding. “Understood.”

Both men finished speaking to their respective companions, locked eyes, and charged toward one another.

One wielded a spear, the other a greatsword. The moment the weapons collided, rapid chains of clashes erupted continuously.

Gray also used a spear, so Karon was already extremely familiar with facing the weapon. As soon as the two resumed exchanging blows, the supplementary Arts hidden within Peld’s spear attacks caused Karon considerable trouble, though he still managed to block or deflect everything.

At the same time, Karon continuously increased the power of the Darkmoon Blade’s enhancement in the purple greatsword. To outside observers, the sword was not wrapped in dark-red moonlight. Instead, it appeared to be engulfed in blazing flames.

Come on! Peld clearly sensed pressure from the opponent before him was steadily increasing. What confused him even more was how evenly the enemy’s attacks were rising. It was so steady that it even felt like the man was deliberately restraining himself.

That was exactly the case. Karon feared that if he unleashed too much Darkmoon power at once, his Darkmoon Eyes would reveal themselves.

Peld continuously swung his spear, doing everything possible to regain the initiative. Meanwhile, Karon merely continued feeding more Darkmoon power into the blade, steadily increasing the Darkmoon Blade’s enhancement bit by bit.

Gradually, he was no longer able to spare any focus to think about extraneous details. Most of his focus shifted entirely toward controlling his power.

The resulting battlefield dynamic became extremely obvious: Peld, who was constantly attempting to reclaim the initiative, was instead forced into more and more of a passive defense beneath Karon’s increasingly violent attacks.

Finally, the ornament attached to Peld’s spear emitted light and a vortex appeared.

Karon split the vortex apart with one slash, but the resulting shockwave blasted both sides apart, ending the second exchange.

“My dear, he—”

“He’s a bit stronger than I expected, but it’s not a serious problem.”

Karon also retreated back to his original position. After this exchange, he did not feel even the slightest bit of fatigue, yet sweat had already formed across his forehead. This strain came entirely from trying to control his own power.

After fusing with the Darkmoon Eyes, he had not had any opportunity whatsoever to adapt properly. He had woken up, eaten two meals, and immediately following that, arrived here. Quite simply, he still was not accustomed to his current strength.

Standing behind the tree, Ophelia warned, “Be careful. He still hasn’t used his full power. The most terrifying aspect of the Church of Reincarnation lies in their soul pacts!”

“I know, but I’m hoping he uses them soon.”

When Karon had faced Talina, a woman from the Church of Reincarnation, he had discovered that his chains could sever the church’s soul pacts. Therefore, he genuinely hoped that his current opponent would use one against him. That way, he could end this battle far more cleanly.

“Mm...” Karon frowned slightly. Same surname. Same family...

Karon remembered the captain once telling him that Bertha had mentioned Talina possessed an older brother who enjoyed carrying around his lover’s soul while searching everywhere for sacrifices to sustain their twisted romance. Is this him? Did your sister already die by my hand?

Peld rolled his neck twice before sweeping his gaze around. “My dear, I’ll need to finish him quickly.”

After speaking, he sliced his own palm open with the spear tip before gripping the spear tightly. The bloodstained spear emitted a strange resonance, as though responding to its master. Silver radiance covered Peld’s body as his entire aura rose to another level.

Meanwhile, Karon tightly gripped the purple greatsword. He truly anticipated his opponent using soul possession, yet it was also clear that Peld still had no intention of using that Art. Most likely, every activation of a soul pact caused him significant suffering or exacted some heavy price. Right now, he was still unwilling to use it.

Then I’ll beat you until you do!

The two exploded forward simultaneously again. Peld’s spear erupted with light as it thrust toward Karon. Karon instantly poured massive amounts of Darkmoon power into himself. At that exact instant, his eyes began itching violently. The Darkmoon Eyes were nearly about to reveal themselves.

This was essentially the limit of what he dared to use. Even so, the resulting power was quite terrifying.

Peld watched as Karon raised the greatsword overhead and hacked downward toward him. Even now, he still could not understand why the opponent insisted on coating the greatsword with Order flames during battle. Does he think such flames can actually burn me? Is his spirituality so excessive he had nowhere else to spend it?

This kind of wasteful mistake in combat was something that should never be repeated, yet Peld’s opponent continued doing it repeatedly, and even more aggressively.

Still, Peld hesitated briefly. He pulled back his spear from the thrust he had originally intended for exchanging mutual injuries, and instead chose to block.

Karon’s first strike fell and was blocked. Then, when he swung for his second strike, both his feet left the ground. The greatsword in his hands had been overloaded with such an immense amount of Darkmoon power that its speed exceeded what Karon could currently control.

His assault resembled a runaway train. Karon could only cling tightly to the hilt to avoid being thrown away himself.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

After countless rapid collisions, Peld realized, much to his shock, that his opponent’s attacks had again become stronger. Every single strike required Peld’s entire concentration just to block.

He refused to believe that this man could maintain such high-intensity assaults indefinitely. Eventually, he would exhaust himself and require a moment to breathe. Peld simply needed to wait for that opportunity.

Yet Karon’s assault showed no signs whatsoever of slowing, nor did it weaken in the slightest.

Peld was now completely suppressed. After blocking a strike, he lacked enough time to do anything except focus entirely on blocking the next. Over and over again.

Gradually, Peld suddenly realized that if things continued, his opponent might not be the one to grow exhausted first. He himself might be drained instead.

This was currently Karon’s greatest advantage. As long as an opponent failed to instantly kill or cripple him at the beginning of a fight, the longer the battle dragged on, the greater his chances of victory became.

Back when he had first started practicing in close combat, Gray had already experienced this deeply, but Karon’s spirituality reserves had recently completely doubled, thanks to a full day-and-night of sleep replenishing him.

Boom!

Peld started to consciously retreat. He was clearly attempting to disengage from the battle.

Karon noticed immediately and understood the opponent was likely preparing to use another holy relic to disrupt the rhythm of the fight.

Yet instead of stopping him early, Karon deliberately waited. When Peld threw out a purple gemstone that created a barrier, Karon shattered it with a single sword strike while pretending that he desperately needed rest.

He stabbed the greatsword into the ground and dragged it back while retreating several more steps. His final movement was not entirely an act. He genuinely needed a bit of effort to calm down the severely overcharged sword.

Karon panted heavily while staring at Peld. Good. Now summon your contracted soul already.

Ophelia spoke, “How much longer can you hold on?”

“A long time.”

“You’ve been hiding your strength this whole time?” Clearly, she had already noticed the increase in Karon’s power.

“If I told you I recently comprehended another layer of Darkmoon power, would you believe me?”

“I wouldn’t.”

“Then just assume I was hiding my strength.”

Karon continued staring at Peld. When he saw light beginning to shine from the opponent’s forehead, he immediately realized that a pact bead was being activated.

To urge him to move faster, Karon once more infused Darkmoon power into the purple greatsword. Blazing flames ignited across the blade again.

At the same time, black chains had already spread outward beneath him, silently hiding under the dead leaves. And at that exact moment—

In York City, Veyn, an unimaginable distance away, within the master bedroom behind a courtyard in the rear of a funeral home, a sleeping cat rolled over atop the bed. Still asleep, it frowned slightly and flicked its tail twice.

Meanwhile, behind Karon, a phantom woman slowly appeared. She wore a hood and held a staff while floating above the ground. Her eyes were open, yet also completely hollow and unfocused.

Karon sensed the abnormality behind him and glanced backward. Hm? Why has Pu’er suddenly appeared behind me?

Then, he quickly understood. It was because he had continuously used Progenitor Allen’s fire-element power to conceal the Darkmoon Blade. From the moment he had established a symbiotic pact with Pu’er, he had never fought using such prolonged battle with such a massive amount of Progenitor Allen’s power.

Thus, the symbiotic pact activated indirectly, manifesting Pu’er’s figure to strengthen Karon’s control over Progenitor Allen’s powers. The appearance of her phantom was unconscious because their souls were linked together, and the phantom appeared solely to amplify his ability.

Seriously? Everyone else summons monstrous beasts or giant hands or other things that at least look intimidating, yet whenever I get into a fight in the future, I’ll have a girl standing behind me?

“It really is Miss Poelle?” Ophelia pursed her lips tightly. This phantom of Miss Pu’er was far more distinct and real than the blurry presence she had glimpsed before within the cave when retrieving Karon.

Before, it had merely been an indistinct aura, but this time... So perhaps he truly isn’t the ancestor’s descendant, but is Miss Poelle’s descendant?

Across from Karon, the moment Peld saw the figure appear, he immediately made up his mind and started chanting, “In the name of Reincarnation, manifest before me and fight in my stead!”

Instantly, a terrifying soul clad in tattered armor and wielding a spear appeared behind Peld. It then gradually merged into his body.

This was an incredibly powerful soul, vastly stronger than the soul carried by his younger sister. However, the cost of controlling such a soul was also much greater. No wonder he was so unwilling to use it earlier.

Peld released a low roar. His eyes turned crimson as his aura instantly exploded upward!

Seeing this, Karon instead relaxed internally. A soul this powerful would definitely prevent Peld from escaping after it turned against him, right?

If Peld died from losing control of his own contracted soul, handling the aftermath of this matter would be much easier.

Peld planted the spear tip to the ground, and a terrifying ripple instantly spread out from that point.

His voice became deep, majestic, and hoarse. “You’re very fortunate, because I’m about to show you what the true Church of Reincarnation really looks like.”

“You’re even more fortunate.” Karon slowly raised the greatsword. “Because you’ll now see Order.”